This invention relates to gaming machines and, in particular, to a bonus game feature in a gaming machine.
Gaming machines, such as video and reel-type slot machines, have become more entertaining to the player due to the addition of secondary games. Such secondary games, sometimes referred to as bonus games, are only made available to the player after a special outcome of the primary game. For example, such a special outcome to initiate the bonus game may be the occurrence of a certain combination of special symbols on rotating reels (video reels or actual reels) or a certain combination of cards in a video poker machine. Some bonus games are simply a variation of the primary game, and other bonus games are a completely different type of game.
Such bonus games provide the opportunity for the player to obtain an additional award and, thus, entice the player to play those gaming machines that offer bonus games.
Typical bonus games involve the simple random selection of a bonus result by the gaming machine or allow the player to make some selection to determine the outcome of the bonus game. Once such gaming machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,255, incorporated herein by reference. In such typical bonus games, the bonus game ends after a single outcome or ends abruptly after the player or the gaming machine randomly chooses a losing option instead of a winning option while playing the bonus game.
In one embodiment of a gaming machine incorporating the present invention, a special outcome of a primary game initiates a bonus game of a type very different from the primary game. The bonus game may be a game board displayed on a video screen, where the player spins a virtual spinner to progress through the game board. Landing on some positions on the game board increment or decrement a bonus prize. Landing on certain other positions on the game board initiates a third game to determine whether the bonus game ends or continues. If the player lands on such a position, the player is prompted by a window on the video screen to pick one of three tiles representing three possible results. In one example, two of the results end the bonus game and one of the results allows the player to continue with the bonus game.
In another embodiment, upon a special outcome of the primary game, the player enters the bonus game and chooses unknown bonus values until selecting an option that initiates a third game to determine whether the bonus game ends or continues. This third game may be the random selection by the player or the gaming machine of one of a plurality of tiles (or other icons), where certain ones of the tiles end the bonus game and other ones of the tiles allow the bonus game to continue. The third game may be any game where a random result determines the ending of the bonus game, or the third game may be a game of skill, such as a hand of blackjack.
Numerous other embodiments of bonus games are envisioned that offer a third type of game to determine when the bonus game ends.
In one embodiment, the primary game, the bonus game, and the third game are played on the same touch video screen, where sensors in the screen detect the position of a player""s touch in order to select a displayed option.
Using this invention, the player feels more in control of the bonus game, and the addition of the third game to determine if the bonus game ends heightens the suspense for the player.